Why do airlines over book?

Question

They are so rude. They over book people and than radomly bump customers off moving them to later flights. Even moving them to the next day. No matter if they bought their tickest first or not. If the flight is full than it's full. Why do they keep selling tickest and give taken seats away randomly? I wish someone who worked in an airport would answer this question.

Answer 1

Airlines count on a certain percentage of customers not showing up at the last minute. Because customers can cancel and pay a fee to apply their ticket price towards a future purchase (fee is usually $100), these last-minute cancellations take a lot of revenue away from the airlines. And since they are operating on tiny profit margins to begin with, they want every seat full before they take off. But no one can know for sure who's going to cancel or no-show so they work on estimates, trying to balance a completely full flight with no one being bumped. Sometimes they get it right, and there's just enough seats for customers, and sometimes they get it wrong--- either too many empty seats, or not enough seats to go around.

If airlines did not overbook, airfares in general would be a lot higher. And there are a lot more last-minute cancellations than you might imagine, especially among high-priced business traveller tickets. It adds up to serious money.

As for the taking away seats... it's really not all that random. If a plane is oversold, priority is given first to the frequent fliers. Someone who flies 100 flights a year has a much better chance of getting a seat than someone who flies 2. It does pay to join the airline's frequent flyer program even if you don't fly very much--- just having a FF number protects you from a lot of the bumping. Airlines want to take care of the customers who do a lot of business with them first. If you spent $1000 on a ticket but only fly once a year, they're going to pass you up in favor of the person with a $400 ticket on this trip AND $400 tickets on 50 other flights that year.

After the preferred members are given seats, they move on to the non-members who have connecting flights on the same airline that day. One-leg journies are easier to re-route than two-leg journies and they'd rather get someone who has a stop to make into that airport in time to meet their next plane.

Then priority is based on fare class. This isn't cabin class (coach, economy, etc) but a category within each of those cabins that #1 determines the price you pay for the ticket and #2 determines its restrictions and eligibilities. For example, a non-refundable ticket is a different class than a refundable. The airlines look at the fare class and generally go with the least restricted class first. That's because those usually cost the most and again, they're taking care of whoever is putting the most money in their pocket.

For what it's worth, even *where* you buy your ticket has something to do with getting bumped or not. People who buy on priceline or expedia (etc) get bumped more than people who buy directly with the airline.

I'm not saying it is impossible for a Platinum-level frequent flyer to be bumped, or that it works exactly this way every time, but in general, that's how bumping goes. There will always be flights that are oversold (unless we as consumers want to accept higer prices overall and I just don't see that happening). If no one volunteers to be bumped, they're going to pick. And they're going to try harder to keep someone happy and put them on the plane if that someone spends a lot of money with the airline. The casual once-a-year traveller doesn't stand much of a chance.

Answer 2

Statistically, there are people who don't show up for their flights. I'm not sure why someone would do THAT. But anyway, I fly close to 100 times a year and have never gotten bumped off a flight. Occasionally I hear them make an announcement that a flight is overbooked and they want volunteers to be put on a later flight, but that's very infrequent (I've only heard them do that a couple times in the past 3 or 4 years).

The worst airlines for doing this, in my experience, is United and Southwest. Both terrible airlines.

Answer 3

It is more complicated than you think. Official booking systems are: 1)Apollo (in US, same as Amadeus in Europe, thus same company = Travelport LLC in England) 2)Sabre All travel agencies use either one of these booking engines, which goes to the main computer and relay to the airlines, hotel, car rentals, etc.. Prior that it goes to a clearance house (called ARC) so airlines, hotels, etc can get paid. Money go to a trust account and they will be paid at end of the month., Once clear, the e-ticket will be issue, which is practically instantly.

Answer 4

some airlines oversell by 33% - they expect this number of 'no-show's'. as you say, when they all turn up they bump people off. However, they tend to ask for passengers to volunteer and will (as a rule) pay for the extra night accomodation, all meals and will issue flight vouchers (between $100 and $500)

Answer 5

They're banking on the fact that someone will cancel.

Answer 6

because to make more money on airline tickets